The Fawcett Avenue Conscripts are a group of table-top wargamers who get together on Thursday nights to enjoy some gaming, some beer and a few chuckles courtesy of our hobby.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Again With Reinforcements - Sons of Horus Heavy Support

The Warmaster has some direct feedback to share...

Again with the reinforcements! Yes, the flood of new troops for the Warmaster's own XVI Legion continues. Well, maybe not "flood"...but five Legion Marines hauling lascannons would be enough to potentially wreck the day of most loyalist commanders. That is what we have here: a heavy support squad wearing Mark III power armour and armed with lascannons. One model is sporting a comb from the Mark III office upgrade kit, and all the models have the embossed shoulder plates with Sons of Horus markings. These will join five similar models painted in June of 2015 to "round out" the unit into a full heavy support squad of ten figures hauling lascannons.

The new paint jobs don't precisely match the prior paint jobs, but it is close enough, and as a group, they look like an intimidating bunch.

A regular heavy support Legion Marine drawing a bead with his lascannon

The weapon configurations of these Legion units - Tactical Support Squads and Heavy Support Squads, all equipped with the same weapon - are one feature of 30k gaming that stands in contrast to the configuration of the Marine forces in the more "traditional" 40k setting. It brings to mind the Eldar and their Aspect Warriors - armed to the teeth with multiple "special" weapons. The Legion Marines, not limited by the 40k fluff of small Chapters limited to 1000 troops, don't need to dribble a melta gun here or a few lascannons there among the Chapter...they deploy them in whole squads within their massive Legions. Excess in the name of the Emperor (or Warmaster, as the case may be).

View of the rear armour of the Marines

This Marine seems to be checking a setting on his weapon prior to use on loyalist fools

I game terms, these units are potentially quite powerful. I have already used the small the five-man squad in a few games, and the multiples of lascannons proved to be quite useful on everything from loyalist vehicles to enemy infantry, particularly scary infantry like terminators. Even on the move, the heavy weapons can "snap fire" - it is a low probability to hit, but if there are five, or better now, ten Marines, a couple of "6s" are bound to turn up on the dice.

A "team photo" - combining the reinforcements with the squad painted in June of last year

Horus for hope!

With ten lascannons this unit can blast away at even the heaviest vehicles and either destroy them directly with a penetrating hit or wear them down with glancing hits. In a proper position in the game table, these fellows can be quite devastating. Is there a downside? The points cost of a 10-man unit with lascannons is prohibitive, so it's really a specialized thing or a mega-game thing - but good fun in either situation!

Almost finished with the 30k painting run...just a few more bits on the desk...